My Review of "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book.

One the one hand the extreme amounts of existentialism and big (or maybe ostentatious) words drove me crazy...I mean who really talks like that? On the other, I'm glad that authors are giving readers, particularly young readers, challenging subject matters and vocabulary.

And then I decided to soften my stand even a bit more, because I remember being a teenager, trying to find my way and in the process of doing so, trying to think about mature subjects, voice my opinion, try out new vocabulary words, and in doing so, probably seemed as precocious as these two sometimes did.

The subject matter was interesting. Books about people dying and their revelations as they do so are not new. Neither are books about kids with cancer, or kids exploring their boundaries. But I did like that the author seemed to tackle it from an actual point of view of one of these patients - with some humor and some anger, as well as other emotions mixed in, rather than choosing an extreme, either a "woe is me" attitude or a reverent "life is swell & this is all part of the plan" attitude. The fear, the anger, the sadness, the longing, and even the momemnts of happiness that these characters felt were expressed realistically through dialogue and humor, and yes sometimes sadness. I appreciated that. It maintained a good balance between the extremes it could have taken.

My favorite quote from the book is regards to the view of a relationship by the survivor after the loved one has passed on. It occured to me that is how I felt after my divorce, as well: "The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me, because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your co-rememberer meant losing the memory itself, as if the things we'd done were less real and important than they had been hours before."

The love between the two main characters was beautiful, and I loved that it tied together so beautifully with just a few small words at the very end.





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My review of "One More Day" by Mitch Albom

For One More Day by Mitch Albom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had a hard time rating this book. Here's why...

On the one hand, this is a beautifully told story. The voice of Chick Bennetto sounds authentic and is consistent through the story. In his voice, you can hear the nostalgia. You can hear the admiration he had for his mother. You can hear the longing he had for a relationship with and approval from his father. You can hear the dismay & regret over the choices he'd made and the negative turn of events in his own life. You also walk away with some beautiful "lessons learned". And you get to triumph with him in the end. Most importantly, you are reminded to reach out and make your relationships right TODAY...don't wait, because we don't always get one more day to right those wrongs.

The problem I had with this story is that it felt contrived. See, the author had a ton of success with "Tuesdays with Morrie"...which was based on a true story. And I think he tried to repeat that here with his journalistic-style telling of this story, even though this particular story was not true. Which just made this story seem annoying, inauthentic and made the author seem like he was trying to hard. The thing is, this author clearly has an ear for a good tale, and he also expresses himself beautifully. But his tale lost something when he tried to make it seem true with the journalistic method of storytelling.

I would have rather read a real account of an inspiring person (which is out there, and which I think Mitch Albom could tell beautifully) or one that is not written posing as a real story.

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My Review of "The Dry Grass of August" by Anna Jean Mayhew

The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book, to me, was just average. As other reviewers have said, most of the story has already been told before, but in better novels.

The book was lent to me, and kept me entertained while I was sick, so I appreciate that, but it just doesn't stand out in this genre as a must-read. I don't regret reading it, but I'm also not disappointed that I have to give it back. It hasn't stuck with me the way other books have.

What I did like about the book is that the author has done a nice job of developing some of the characters. Each character has a distinct personality, with an authentic voice. They are believable, and I think it is easy to decide which are likeable, and which are detestable. The main character, Jubie, is an emotional and passionate teenager who stands up for what she thinks is right, even knowing the consequences might be horrible (like a whipping from her daddy). You can't help but admire her for that, and feel for her as she tries to find her way through the story...her triumphs, her mishaps, her embarassaments, etc. And even though her big sister Estelle is prim & proper and kind of a know-it-all, you'll find a few things about her and a few things to dislike ...probably the way most people feel about their big sister.

The other siblings were peripheral and unnecessary, in my opinion, other than perhaps to make the story more authentic to the era and to increase the readers sympathy for Mama's burden.

Of course, you can't help but love Mary, the hired help, who nannies, cooks, and cleans for this family and who actually nurtures the children, unlike their own mother who is sometimes there for them but mostly not. And you love the relationship she has with the kids, especially Jubie. She does a good job of turning the character of the father into a detestable human being, and creating an ambivalence in the reader towards the character of Mama.

I also think she did a nice job of creating the setting for the book. She developed it in a way that you felt like you had been there and seen the story first hand.

I'm always curious why authors choose a title for the book, and in this case it comes from a piece of scripture referenced in the book that talks about how evil will burn like dry grass. There is plenty of evil in this book, and you do hope for Jubie's sake that the goodness prevails.

Part of the problem for me was there was so much going on, yet it ended in less than 300 pages. In order for this book to have felt fully developed, it needed to be a longer book with all the current themes, or a shorter book with fewer themes. I got to the end of the book and felt like "that's it?". The ending didn't satisfy. And I felt like a lot of drama was created for no apparent reason, since the author chose not to develop it beyond 300 pages.





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